Ioannis Malandrakis was born in 1964 in Voukolies, Chania. His father was Ioannis Malandrakis from Palea Roumata and his mother is Vasilia Malandraki from Glossa, Kolymbari. He has two brothers, Kleanthis and Markos, and two sisters, Sophia and Tonia. He is married to Vana Nikiforaki, mathematician, and they have two children, Panayiotis, a medical student, and Ilianna, a secondary school student. He holds an MSc in Economics and worked at the Bank of Greece since April 1994 as Head of the Currency Exchange Service. He also worked in the financial sector of OTE Telecommunications until April 1994 and, before that, he worked in the private sector.
He is a graduate of the Department of Business Administration of the University of Piraeus. He holds a Certificate of Specialization in Marketing from the University of Piraeus and an MSc from the Department of Production Engineering and Management of the Technical University of Crete. He has long experience as a certified adult trainer of EKEPIS (National Accreditation Centre for Continuing Vocational Training), as a certified instructor trainer of the Hellenic Bank Association and a certified observer of EKEPIS. He is also a certified trainer of OAED/LAEK. He has delivered lectures on Business Administration, Public Finance, Public Relations, Communication Techniques etc. He was a professor at the Public IEK of Chania for 12 years.
He has attended seminars at ELKEPA (Greek Productivity Center) and the Economic Chamber of Greece as well as other educational institutions, and he was scientific responsible of a large number of training programs for employees and unemployed. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Center of Labour from 2005 to 2010 as well as the Board of Directors of the Economic Chamber of Greece (Department of Western Crete) from 2004 to 2010. He was elected member and Secretary of the branch of the Association of Employees of the Bank of Greece (SYTE) since 1995 and member of the General Council of SYTE.
He has participated in social initiatives and actions as well as social and labour struggles aimed at improving the everyday life of the citizens. He has been involved in the submission, co-ordination and implementation of a large number of programs co-funded by the E.U. related to the training and reintegration of the unemployed into the labour market, the specialization of employees, in collaboration with Municipalities, as well as the creation of businesses in Municipalities.
At the municipal elections of 2010, he was elected Mayor of the Municipality of Platanias and was re-elected in the municipal elections of 2015 for the period 2015-2019.
He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Regional Union of Municipalities of Crete, while at the same time he is a member of the Board of Directors of the Organization for the Development of Crete (former OADYK), Chairman of the Leader Committee, member of the Board of Directors of ANEK and member of other committees. He serves all of the above councils and committees as a non-salaried member. Furthermore, he has participated in a series of conferences and information days on Local Government.